COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

BAT sales jump on vaping

British American Tobacco (BAT) on Friday reported a 7% rise in full-year adjusted revenue to 25.7 billion pounds (US$34.8 billion), helped by sales of e-cigarettes and oral nicotine.

The world’s second-largest tobacco company also announced a dividend increase of 1.0% to 217.8 pence and a 2-billion-pound share repurchase programme for 2022.

It posted a 51% rise to 2.05 billion pounds in adjusted sales of its “new categories” product line which includes e-cigarettes, heated tobacco and oral nicotine. Though the division has yet to turn a profit, BAT said it was on track to report revenue of 5 billion pounds and profitability by 2025.

"Continued growth in new categories is a cornerstone of BAT's long-term plans for success," Third Bridge analyst Ross Hindle said. "With over 1.1 billion smokers still using combustibles, the opportunity to convert consumers towards New Categories is highly attractive."

The company said 4.8 million more consumers than last year used non-combustible products such as Vuse e-cigarettes, glo heated tobacco and Velo oral nicotine.

BAT said it expects global tobacco industry volumes to decline by around 2.5% this year. For 2021, the company had estimated those volumes to remain flat. -Reuters

Exxon Mobil expands oil futures

Exxon Mobil is injecting new cash into oil trading in Europe after a retreat on its ambitious expansion plans last year, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

Exxon slashed funding for its trading division in 2020 as part of wider cuts, leaving traders without the capital they needed to take full advantage of the volatile oil market during peak Covid-19 lockdowns.

The company’s cautious strategy during the pandemic sparked the exodus of some senior-level recruits from the previous couple of years, along with Exxon veterans, after they were restricted to routine hedging and deals.

Among the senior departures Reuters reported last year, Paul Butcher was due to leave in September but then stayed after Exxon decided to allocate more financing, the sources said, without providing further detail.

The sources said Exxon would keep its trading expansion going. Butcher is now expanding the paper market team in Exxon's office outside London, which would see Exxon engage in speculative trade beyond hedging their own oil, they said. -Reuters

Volvo Cars profit lags forecasts

Volvo Cars on Friday posted fourth-quarter earnings below expectations pressured by global supply shortages despite strong demand for its vehicles.

Profits at the carmaker, which listed on Nasdaq Stockholm in October, were also dented by raw material costs and accounting changes at EV venture Polestar, in which it owns a 49% stake.

Its fourth-quarter operating profit fell to 3.7 billion Swedish crowns (US$396.4 million) from 4.9 billion a year earlier and missed the 4.8 billion expected by analysts in a Refinitiv poll. Revenue fell 6% to 80.1 billion crowns but topped the 75.2 billion expected by analysts.

Volvo said it expected to continued sales growth in 2022, though uncertainty due to the lingering effects of the pandemic remains high.

The Gothenburg-based company and global peers have been forced to cut vehicle output, despite robust demand in key markets such as China and the United States, due to a global chip shortage.

Volvo said the supply chain would remain a restraining factor, while the component shortage had eased somewhat and would improve gradually. -Reuters

California sues Tesla

A California state agency has sued Tesla Inc over allegations by some Black workers that the company tolerated racial discrimination at an assembly plant, adding to claims made in several other lawsuits against the electric car maker.

The lawsuit filed in state court late on Wednesday by the state's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) said Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, is racially segregated and that Black workers claim they are subjected to racist slurs and drawings and assigned the most physically demanding jobs.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. The company said in a blog post on Wednesday it was expecting the lawsuit, which it called misguided.

The DFEH said working conditions at the plant are so intolerable that many Black employees have been forced to quit.

"Workers referred to the Tesla factory as the 'slaveship' or 'the plantation,' where defendants’ production leads 'crack[ed] the whip,'" the agency said in the complaint. -Reuters

Mercedes reports 12.7% sales return

Mercedes-Benz Cars and Vans expects an adjusted return on sales of 12.7% in the full year, the company reported in preliminary figures on Friday, with an adjusted EBIT of 14 billion euros (US$15.94 billion). The fourth quarter saw an adjusted return on sales of 15%, it said.

"Solid net pricing, good product mix and favourable used car performance" boosted profitability, the statement said, even as semiconductor shortages limited the number of vehicles the carmaker was able to produce.

Mercedes-Benz, which spun off its commercial vehicle business Daimler Truck in December last year, expects the deconsolidation to have positive effects on the group EBIT in order of magnitude of 9 to 10 billion euros.

However, it was management's view that this valuation effect would have no difference on cash flow and therefore should be excluded from the basis for determining dividends, it said.

Mercedes-Benz saw a 5% sales drop in 2021 to 2.05 million vehicles, losing its crown for the first time in five years as the premium carmaker with the most vehicles sold to BMW. -Reuters